Night, and the dew lay heavy, cold and raw.

When the sun rose, the chill in Shen Mu's body began to disperse little by little. Leaning on his crutch, he clambered unsteadily to his feet; the blood on the wooden staff was divine blood, still bright and vivid.

He looked ahead. All was ruin there.

The battle of the night before had wrought terrible damage. That sundered Black Mountain had been blasted to powder by the gaunt stranger's Dao Fruit, utterly annihilated, leaving not a trace.

The strange fiery eye that had been wedged between the clefts of the Black Mountain was gone as well; the ground on every side sank deep, sacrificed by the gaunt stranger to the past universe and refined into pure energy.

Everywhere lay scattered the petrified corpse of the gaunt stranger. The energies of the past universe and the present universe still balanced each other: though part of the Ancestral Court's matter had been sacrificed, the gaunt stranger's corpse had made up that portion of energy.

The Black Mountains all around seemed nourished by the gaunt stranger's energy; their slopes grew lush, putting forth many plants and growths unique to the Ancestral Court, and on the leaves of trees and tender grass hung dew condensed from spirit aura.

Half of the gaunt stranger's body still remained in the past universe, yet his Dao Fruit was destroyed.

With his Dao Fruit destroyed and only half a body left, he would soon be ground away in the great calamity of cosmic destruction, utterly annihilated, ceasing to exist.

A hoarse voice broke the stillness of the morning. Leaning on his crutch, Shen Mu called out low, trying to summon the lame old man's soul black sand.

Yet no soul black sand answered him.

Shen Mu cast his art slowly, his voice drawn long, like an old wounded wolf in the wild calling to its kin in a rough, hoarse cry.

From first to last, not a single mote of soul black sand was drawn to him.

The Dao Fruit's explosion had been too violent; under such conditions no soul black sand could possibly exist.

The Dao Fruit is condensed from the Great Dao, the supreme cultivation of one who has attained the Dao. The lame old man had driven the Taiyi crutch into the gaunt stranger's Dao Fruit and set off the explosion; in a blast that violent, the soul is annihilated utterly.

Shen Mu held the crutch with one hand and groped forward with the other, but caught nothing.

He drew a heavy breath. Was it possible that at the very last moment the lame old man, with that terrifying speed of his, had passed through the Dao Fruit and entered the strange eye behind the stranger's body?

Might he have gone through that strange eye into the past universe?

A flicker of hope rose again in Shen Mu's eyes. Leaning on his crutch, he hobbled forward, seeking some trace amid the waste.

The hope in his eyes slowly faded; his gaze grew hollow.

Even if the lame old man had gone into the past universe, he could not have survived the great calamity of destruction; he would still be ground to nothing, leaving not a trace behind.

He sat down, staring blankly. After a long while his lips moved, and with a catch of weeping in his voice he said, "You were the finest hand under heaven — even Pixiang Hall could not stop you..."

He fell silent again. After a long while he took out a jade bottle and carefully collected the divine blood from the wooden staff, though some brown stains still remained upon it.

Voices came — the people who had left the night before, returning to see what the battle had left behind.

Shen Mu hid his grief at the bottom of his heart and roused the Mystic Body Three Cores Art so that his complexion might look a little better; only then did he stand. Quietly he wiped the tear tracks from his face so that no one would see he had wept, and patted his cheeks to loosen the muscles stiffened by crying.

Those who came were the ones who cared for him most. Granny Zhu, the Silent Craftsman, the Blind Elder and the others hurried over; only when they saw from afar that Shen Mu stood there unharmed did they breathe easy.

"Shen, where is the lame old man?"

Granny Zhu came up quickly, first inspecting Shen Mu's wounds, and then, relieved, looked around and asked suspiciously, "Where has that damned cripple run off to? The Blind Elder said he saw him sneak back again last night, saying he meant to save you... Where is he? Damned cripple, stop hiding, come out this instant!"

She searched about, found no trace of her old friend, and called out a few more times.

The Blind Elder opened his sacred pupils and gazed all around; then he stopped Granny Zhu and shook his head. "Granny, there is no need to call. The lame old man is not here. Shen, did the old cripple not show himself last night?"

Shen Mu steadied himself, a smile coming to his face, and said softly, "Grandpa Lame did show himself last night. He helped me kill that Dao-attainer from the past universe."

The Silent Craftsman gripped his box tighter, uneasy. The Blind Elder's expression shifted, and he looked at the crutch in Shen Mu's hand.

Shen Mu quietly moved his palm to cover the bloodstains on the crutch.

Granny Zhu forced a smile. "That coward — scared as a mouse his whole life. When was he ever so brave... Where has he gone?"

The smile on Shen Mu's face did not diminish. "He has gone to the past universe. He told me he had already stolen his way through every corner of our universe and there was nowhere left to try his hand. He wanted to go to the past universe and steal the sacred treasures there."

Granny Zhu's face still wore a smile. "That damned cripple — never happy unless he was filching something of someone else's. It is true he has stolen his way across the whole world; he even stole his way through the Heavenly Emperor's inner palace. He stole the Heavenly Emperor's eggshell too. Last time he was still bragging about it, sighing that there was nothing left in this world worth his trouble."

Shen Mu nodded. "That is how it is. Grandpa Lame's ambition has always been to keep stealing, to seek out ever harder challenges."

The smile on Granny Zhu's face grew deeper and deeper, until it could not be dissolved. "That is the man he is. Back when his own powers were still lowly, he went and robbed Emperor Yanfeng's treasury, and Jiang Baigui cut off one of his legs for it — and even then Jiang Baigui could not keep him."

"Mm."

Granny Zhu went on smiling. "When we were living in hiding in Yincan Village, he still loved to steal. When I found you troublesome and sent you away, every time he would steal you back and put you in my room, while he hid in some dark corner, tickled pink, watching me lose my temper at you."

"Mm. That is the man he is."

Granny Zhu let out a breath and smiled. "He must have decided there was no more fun to be had here, so he went off to the past universe to plague the Dao-attainers there. A scoundrel like him — the Dao-attainers of the past universe are in for a calamity this time!"

She laughed happily and clapped her hands. "Those Dao-attainers of the past universe brought us so much suffering; it is their turn to suffer now. Serves them right! Blind Elder, Silent Craftsman, don't you agree?"

She turned to look at the Blind Elder and the Silent Craftsman. The two said nothing, only nodded in silence.

Granny Zhu spoke again, half in reproach: "It is only that the fellow slipped away without a word, and that is what makes me angry! He is always like this — furtive, gone without a sound, never leaving the least word behind, and then suddenly popping up to give you a fright! When he tires of playing in the past universe and comes running back to frighten me, I will pin him to the ground and give him a good beating!"

She put on a stern face for the Blind Elder and the Silent Craftsman. "Not one of you is to stop me!"